Confirmation that Greater Wisdom does indeed come with age

The journal Cerebral Cortex reports that those clever people at the Institute of Geriatrics, University of Montreal,have produced compelling research that confirms what we older parents probably already suspected: the older you get the wiser you become. The Daily Mail reports on this finding: “The over 55s use their brains more efficiently than their younger counterparts, as they are much more likely to shrug off mistakes, say scientists.

“And while they may take more time to come to a decision, they are simply conserving their energy.”

Younger people, the report goes on,by contrast, give the impression of being sharper, simply coming-up with answers more quickly.The researchers say this maybe a sign of inexperience rather than wisdom. It seems “as the brain becomes older, it learns how to better allocate its resources.”

A group aged between 55 and 75, although they took longer to complete certain tasks, roughly matched the performance of a group aged 18 to 35, the journal Cerebral Cortx reported.